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Far be it for me
to criticize such a wonderful filmmaker as Woody Allen, but being
the movie fan that his work is aimed at, I feel it is my duty to
do so. Curse of The
Jade Scorpion is a wonderfully fun, sharp-witted effort, whose
only failure comes Allen’s continued insistence at being a
romantic lead in every one of his movies.
I feel that his art has become a self-indulgent fulfillment
of his fantasies, and that we are his unwitting victims.
The love story in this film works, but not with him as the
lead, it becomes a distraction, rather than a progression of the
plot. Despite this,
Allen’s talent as a screenwriter and storyteller is in its
normal good form, with intelligent dialogue (including his
neurotic tendencies, and Hunt’s continually descriptive wishes
of doom) and an interesting, unique story.
The story centers
on C.W. Briggs, a neurotic (as usual) but talented
insurance investigator. His
boss, Chris Magruder (Ackroyd) has brought in an efficiency expert
(Hunt) to help the department run more fluidly.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he is also having an
affair with her, but is hesitant about leaving his wife.
Meanwhile, Hunt and Allen have an intense dislike for each
other, which results in the movies most humorous moments.
At a party at a local club, a hypnotist (Ogden-Stiers) uses
Hunt and Allen as his unwitting victims, sending them into a
trance (using the aforementioned Scorpion), then commanding
them using the words “Constantinople” and “Madagascar”.
After having them act out a mock romance, he wakes them
from their trance and they all go their separate ways.
But alas, there is more, the hypnotist has ulterior motives
and never breaks the two from his spell, making phone calls,
uttering the words, and having them do his bidding. I loved the idea itself, unique and creative, without being
completely unrealistic, and the dialogue, filled with the expected
witticisms and social observances, along with the playful and
energetic performances of Hunt, Shawn and the others but again,
Woody, in this role, was a distraction
Throughout his
career, Allen has tried to be the protagonist for the neurotic
underdog. Someone who
appeals to the guy who may not have the looks, the money, the
style or the charm, but is armed with an acerbic sense of humor
and a big vocabulary. Briggs
is no different, fulfilling all the prototypical traits of an
Allen lead character. But the character isn’t the problem here; it’s the
performance, and believability of the role.
It’s not just the age difference, which can also be
forgiven in certain films, depending on the screenplay, but the
fact that we’ve seen this character before, in different
situations and circumstances.
It worked the first time; it was funny the second time, now
it is just tiring, repetitious and a distraction away from a story
that has lighthearted playful nature otherwise.
I just wish Woody would give up his acting career, continue
to write as he does, and give the leads to someone else.
Ultimately,
Curse of The Jade Scorpion is a consistently funny, but
self-indulgent effort that falls victim to the Woody Allen
romantic curse. In
the majority of his movies, Allen has cast himself into a romantic
storyline that is occasionally necessary, but just not with him in
the role. He needs to
learn the lesson that Tarantino has, stay behind the scenes, and
your films will work much better.
There is no denying his talent to relay sarcasm, neurosis
and intelligent humor and weave it into an entertaining story.
One or two times, is okay, nine or ten, is just
unnecessary. Allen hasn’t just beaten this dead horse, he has
pulverized into a near unrecognizable pile of dust This effort is
a nice guilty little pleasure with some truly shining moments and
funny dialogue, but it nearly gets dragged down, by Allen,
indulging his romantic fantasies upon us, in the guise of a
credible story. The
idea behind Scorpion works, the humor, the story and characters do
as well, but Allen (who seems to be suffering from Richard Gere
syndrome of casting himself opposite beautiful, noticeably
younger, leads) becomes a distraction in a story that would have
worked much better without him in it.
Agree?
Disagree, Questions? Comments?
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